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Should I use Echinacea extracts with or without alcohol?
Question
Do you recommend Echinacea extracts with or without alcohol? Is there a therapeutic difference and would you use them differently? I see that Herb Pharm offers both.
Answer
Echinacea’s active ingredients can only be adequately extracted with alcohol. This makes a true glycerin extract a poor choice. For this reason, the best companies, such as Herb Pharm and Herbalist & Alchemist, only do alcohol extractions. For a child or someone with an intolerance to alcohol, they evaporate the alcohol after the extraction is completed, and add the glycerin so that it will still keep most of its effectiveness. I would use the one in alcohol or else a tablet made from an alcohol extraction such as the ones from Medi-Herb in Australia.
Always dilute the tincture in water before drinking it as the good products taste very strong.
David Getoff, CCN, CTN, FAAIM, Price-Pottenger Vice President